What books are you reading these days?

[Crizzle]

Just wondering what kinda books people are reading these days and if they have any recommendations.

Currently I'm reading "Mister B. Gone" by Clive Barker. It's his latest book. It's a good, quick read, but in my opinion definitely not Barker's best work

I have the following books lined up to read throughout the winter holidays:

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phillip K. Dick

[Mandrake42]

I'm currently reading The Battle of Evernight by Cecilia Dart-Thorton. Its the third part off a fantasy trilogy based on English and Irish folklore (ooh, how original) When its good it is an interesting read but the author has a tendency to bog down and just carry the whole "I have a vocabulary that would make a linguistic historian weep" way way way too far. At times I swear she is just making up words, some are so obscure I haven't been able to find in a print dictionary but have had to resort to online dictionaries to find a definition. Its times like those that you just want to slap her. Its a pity as at its heart its quite an interesting fairy tale if she could just cut the BS.

Not sure what Ill read next, something less full of its own wordiness, thats for sure.

[KingAl]

I'm currently reading The Battle of Evernight by Cecilia Dart-Thorton. Its the third part off a fantasy trilogy based on English and Irish folklore (ooh, how original) When its good it is an interesting read but the author has a tendency to bog down and just carry the whole "I have a vocabulary that would make a linguistic historian weep" way way way too far. At times I swear she is just making up words, some are so obscure I haven't been able to find in a print dictionary but have had to resort to online dictionaries to find a definition. Its times like those that you just want to slap her. Its a pity as at its heart its quite an interesting fairy tale if she could just cut the BS.

Haha, true dat, I never finished the first for that very reason. Also, the publicity photo is annoying as hell. Right now I'm reading Tristram Shandy.

[Crizzle]

If I stumble upon a book that gets tedious to read (and it's simply a novel for "fun") then I just stop. It's not worth going through a book like that unless it's some sort of classic with deeper meanings. That's just my opinon though.

[tiamax]

I must say that I don't find very much joy in Clive Barker anymore. He was a good writer, and it seemed to go to his head a bit much, though he definitely beats Stephen King right into the dirt (that man is such a poor excuse for a writer). Philip K. Dick is absolutely wonderful, I already know that I'm getting the Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for Christmas

I recommend just about anything by Chuck Palahnuik, who is the author of Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, and Lullaby are some of his better liked works. His newest book is Rant. I've read every book by him, so I guess that you could say that I was unhealthily a bit obsessed with him.
Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan is a fairly sarcastic little book, but his metaphors and similes will make most people laugh out loud.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is simply... amazing, really. She's an amazing author whose characters are more dimensional than the physical book in one's hands.
Anything by Carol Plum-Ucci is good as well. She writes things for young adults, but her books are much more insightful than the average read, even for the adult sections, romantic or plain fiction.

That's about all that I can think of off the top of my head, there are several others I'm certain, I might just post them here later if I think of them and anyone's interested in my sense of taste 

[Crizzle]

Thanks for the recommendations tiamax! I actually read Apathy and Other Small Victories back in September and I found it hilarious. I literally had to bite might lip when reading in public places so I didn't run the risk of bursting out laughing every couple of minutes and looking crazy.

[tiamax]

Thanks for the recommendations tiamax! I actually read Apathy and Other Small Victories back in September and I found it hilarious. I literally had to bite might lip when reading in public places so I didn't run the risk of bursting out laughing every couple of minutes and looking crazy.

The first time I read it, I checked it out from our campus library. It still had the pink slip on the cover, and as I read the first pages walking back toward the dorms, I burst out laughing. My friend stopped in front of me on the way to her chemistry class, I looked up and she had the funniest look on her face from my outburst.

[Toom]

Since I've had a lot of night shifts lately, I've been trying to get back into Don Quixote, which is an incredibly funny book once you've read a couple hundred pages and got yourself into the swing of the language; unfortunately, I keep picking it up, reading it for awhile, then putting it down and forgetting about it for awhile, so I have to start again when I get back to it so it makes sense and flows properly. I've suddenly been swamped with illustration commissions over the last couple of weeks, so I've probably spent more time reading reference tomes and AOI pricing guides than anything else.

[Zixinus]

I am currently reading or pretending to be reading several books. I think I will have to make a list.

- Werner Heisenberg: The part and the whole (its about the philosophy of theoretical physics)
- The Collected works of Stainslaw Lem (mostly the adventures of Pirx)
- E.E. Doc Smit: Skylark Three
- Shakespear: Hamlet

And some other stuff.

[Crizzle]

I just started reading A Clockwork Orange last night...was NOT aware that Anthony Burgess practically made up his own language haha. It'll be a challenge.

[KingAl]

Haha, yeah, Nadsat. It's really an English-Russian construction, so not entirely invented.

[Crizzle]

Haha, yeah, Nadsat. It's really an English-Russian construction, so not entirely invented.

Yeah, actually I got used to it super quickly and it makes reading it a lot more engaging. Keeps ya focussed.

[Mandrake42]

I'm not reading them at the moment but I reccomend anything by Peter F Hamilton. His best is the recent Commonwealth Saga which consists of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. They are utterly awesome and fully realised, the man creates a world and you are drawn into it fully. Has anyone read this series? The Motiles = best enemy ever. Scarily evil.

[IceD]

It's sad i don't have time to read anything last days, but I finally read A. Sapkowski's "The Witcher" Saga, after I finished the game  . And I have to say he has a splendid polish lanugage. I don't know, how it was translated into other languages (everything falls upon hands of the mighty translators), but you will mostly like it. Mind to read  , it's a good piece of fantasy set in a really original way

[Quemaqua]

Lately... Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno books again (I own first editions and go back to read the tale periodically), Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov for the first time, and Melville's Moby Dick for about the 800th.

Would greatly like to read the Witcher saga since I thoroughly enjoyed the game (haven't even finished it yet, in fact), but hardly any of its been translated into English at this point.  Hopefully before too long.